Category: Regulation

  • Reduced-risk plan dropped

    Reduced-risk plan dropped

    A proposal that would have allowed the importation and production of reduced-risk alternatives to cigarettes has been withdrawn in Turkey.

    According to a note posted on Friday on the website of the Europe office of the World Health Organization, Turkey’s Minister of Finance, Naci Ağbal, said that plans to allow the importation and production of ‘heat-not-burn tobacco products and electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS)’ in Turkey had been withdrawn.

    Speaking during the Turkish Grand National Assembly Commission on Planning and Budget on October 17, he confirmed that these products would not be produced or sold in the country.

    The announcement was said to have followed ‘strong public reaction to the threats posed by the tobacco industry’s proposals to begin importing and producing heat-not-burn and ENDS products …’.

    The announcement followed also a press conference on October 17 at which WHO representatives, academics and health specialists jointly voiced their condemnation of the tobacco industry’s proposed new strategy.

    The press conference was said to have been called in reaction to an announcement made earlier by Philip Morris International in which it said it intended to support the establishment of a new entity, the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World.

    ‘As part of this initiative, the tobacco industry planned to introduce a new range of harmful products,’ the note said.

    ‘These heat-not-burn and ENDS products pose serious challenges to public health due to their high levels of nicotine.’

    The note said the consumption of e-cigarettes had ‘increased at an alarming rate among youth and young adults’ in recent years, raising the probabilities of higher numbers of cigarette smokers in the future.

    In warning against the risks of loosening tobacco control laws, WHO’s representative to Turkey, Dr. Pavel Ursu, stressed the importance of ‘political commitments’ made under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Making reference to the intended amendment to the Law on the Organization and Duties of the Tobacco and Alcohol Market Regulatory Authority, he said the proposed amendments contravened the global consensus … “For the continuation of the success of Turkey in tobacco control, we need a firm commitment by all stakeholders rejecting the recent influence of the tobacco industry,” he added.

    During the press conference, Professor Mustafa Necmi İlhan, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Gazi University, said the government should work hand-in-hand with academia and non-governmental organizations in forming national policies.

    Professor Hilal Özcebe, public health specialist and professor at Hacettepe University, said the tobacco industry had tried to hide the real effects that these new products had on health. “The tobacco industry states that electronic products have fewer negative effects on public health but this is a totally false argument,” she said.

    Electronic devices had the same level of nicotine as widely used products and caused similar vascular disorders and cardiovascular diseases, she added.

    The WHO note is at: http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/disease-prevention/tobacco/news/news/2017/10/turkey-withdraws-plans-to-loosen-tobacco-control-laws.

  • Best Malawi season for JTI

    Best Malawi season for JTI

    Fries Vanneste

    JTI Leaf Malawi (JTILM) says that the 2016-2017 season was the most successful for the company since it entered the Malawi market in 2009, according to a Malawi Voice story.

    MD Fries Vanneste said that during the 2016-2017 season, JTILM had recorded a contract market share of 31 percent against an average of 17-18 percent in previous years.

    He said that while the overall national crop volume had been down by 54 percent, JTILM had managed to deliver “all of its committed volumes”, which he described as “a milestone for the company”.

    He said the season’s outcome had shown how close collaboration between farmers, leaf technicians and grower associations, combined with the company’s ongoing support for growers was bearing fruit.

    JTI’s contract farmers had been “very receptive” to the company’s Grower Incentive program called Mlimi Wozitsata (model farmer), which was launched in June 2017. There had been clear improvements in both the quality and yield of the growers’ tobacco.

    Vanneste said also that the better quality and higher yield had had a direct and positive impact on the growers’ revenues and profitability.

    All of JTILM’s growers had paid off their financing loans this year,” Vanneste said.

    JTI is currently working on having its Integrated Production System (IPS) recognized in Malawi’s legislation.

    Vanneste said that Malawi’s Tobacco Control Act had been last amended in the 1970s, an era when sustainability, traceability or contract growing were not high on the agenda.

    An updated tobacco act, he said, could provide an improved legal framework that supported IPS implementation, protecting the interests of the farmers as well as JTILM’s investments. It could eventually create greater stability for the future of tobacco farming in Malawi overall.

    Meanwhile, Vanneste said that by investing more than US$2 million in its factory during the past two years, JTILM had reduced its energy consumption by 53 percent, by enough to light an additional 1,365 households.

  • Making sales more difficult

    Making sales more difficult

    Turkey is preparing a bill that will extend restrictions on the sale of tobacco products, according to a Trend News Agency (Azerbaijan) story citing Turkish media reports.

    The country’s Deputy Prime Minister Recep Akdag was quoted as saying that the new law would ‘prohibit the sale of tobacco products at the cash desks of stores’.

    Anti-tobacco bans and restrictions were stepped up in Turkey from January 2015.

    Currently, the Trend story reported, all tobacco products were sold in black packs to make them less attractive.

    Turkey imposed in 2008 a ban on smoking tobacco in public places.

  • Report backs e-cigarettes

    Report backs e-cigarettes

    A group made up of members of the UK’s lower and upper houses of parliament have today urged the government to build upon Public Health England’s (PHE) ‘Stoptober’ anti-smoking campaign, which was the first of its kind to encourage the use of vaping as a means to quit smoking.

    In its report, The State of the Vaping Nation, the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on E-Cigarettes has called on the government and public health bodies to sustain and capitalise on the level of public engagement with vaping seen during Stoptober by launching a continuous program to keep promoting and accurately communicating the positive public health evidence for vaping.

    Meanwhile, following the PHE campaign, which emerged from the government’s commitment in its recently published Tobacco Control Plan to back the promotion of the positive public health opportunity of vaping, the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA), the largest trade body representing the sector, has reported that its members have experienced significant increases in sales during Stoptober.

    ‘In particular, the APPG has seen evidence from the UKVIA that there has been a considerable rise in starter-kit sales this Stoptober, suggesting a significant increase in those smokers trying vaping for the first time, according to a press note issued on behalf of the APPG

    ‘Watford-based Vape Club, the UK’s largest online vape e-liquid shop and JAC Vapour, a leading retailer, wholesaler and producer of vaping products, have experienced increases in starter kit sales by 37 percent and 65 percent year on year respectively.

    ‘Edinburgh based Vaporized, the UK’s largest vape retail chain, added three more stores to its now 106 store portfolio and experienced a 40 percent year on year rise in sales this October.’

    Mark Pawsey MP, chairman of the APPG, was quoted as saying that the positive public health message regarding vaping had up to now been failing to get across to the UK’s remaining 7.6 million smokers.

    “The Public Health England campaign was a welcome change and has had an obvious effect, but it needs to be sustained, not just a one off.

    “That’s why today we are calling upon the government to ensure such campaigns become the norm, not an exception, so that the UK can fully exploit the public health potential of vaping.

    “Without these campaigns the current mixed messages surrounding vaping will continue and create a confusing picture.”

    The report says that currently 20 percent of people correctly identify that vaping is ‘a lot less harmful’ than is smoking, down from 31 percent in 2015.

    In addition, the number of adults who believe that vaping is ‘as harmful’, or ‘more harmful’ than smoking has risen from seven percent in 2013 to 26 percent in 2017.

    “We are concerned that aspects of the [EU] Tobacco Products Directive work against helping people to stop smoking by making life for vapers more difficult … and by preventing positive messages being shared among those who have been frightened off vaping by a hostile propaganda war,” said Louise Ross, Stop Smoking Service Manager for Leicester City Council, the first Stop Smoking Service to go e-cigarette friendly.

    The parliamentarians believe misinformation is actively preventing smokers from making the decision to switch to vaping. The number of UK vapers increased by four percent from 2016 to 2017.

  • Smokeless ban struck down

    Smokeless ban struck down

    The Gauhati High Court has struck down the Assam Health Act of 2013, which had sought to ban all forms of smokeless tobacco, according to a story in the Telegraph relayed by the TMA.

    The Assam Health Act of 2013 prohibited the manufacturing, advertisement, trade, storage, distribution, sale and consumption of products such as zarda, gutkha and pan masala containing tobacco and nicotine.

    And according to the report, it contained a provision requiring that all violators serve a minimum three-year prison sentence.

    The court ruled that it was beyond the powers of the state legislature to pass this law because that power resided only with the national parliament.

    Senior additional advocate-general Devjit Saikia confirmed that the act had been set aside but could not give details because the order will be received only on Monday.

  • Track-and-trace under fire

    Track-and-trace under fire

    A UK member of the European Parliament has suggested that the European Commission’s plans for a tobacco-products track-and-trace system would disproportionally impact small and traditional tobacco manufacturers.

    In a preamble to two questions put to the Commission, Bill Etheridge said that now that all of the UK’s large tobacco manufacturing plants had closed, leaving thousands of citizens jobless, the tobacco manufacturing sector was left with a handful of micro or small family-owned companies that were rooted in their original localities.

    ‘These companies rely on their ability to export the traditional tobacco products (e.g. pipe tobacco, nasal snuff, chewing tobacco) they produce and distribute,’ he wrote.

    ‘Is the Commission aware that its decision to extend the scope of “track and trace” to tobacco products destined for export:

    1. Potentially oversteps the mandate that the European Parliament has given to the Commission under the European Tobacco Products Directive (2014/40/EU)?
    2. Establishes a self-imposed trade barrier which disproportionally impacts the smaller and traditional tobacco manufacturers, ultimately driving them out of business?’

    The Commission is due to reply in writing.

  • Retailers look to future

    Retailers look to future

    US vape stores are enjoying renewed optimism about the future following the Food and Drug Administration’s decision to postpone key regulatory deadlines, a recent survey has shown.

    The independent survey of more than 1,000 US vape stores was conducted by electronic-cigarette industry data provider ECigIntelligence.

    The responses showed a 31 percent increase in vape store operators having a positive outlook on the future of the vaping market in the US, ECigIntelligence said in a press note.

    Before the FDA announcement in July, most vape stores had arrested expansion plans and cut back on general spending, but since the announcement, many retailers were planning the expansion of business or stock levels.

    Seventy seven percent of retailers were feeling some industry optimism, while more than 10 percent had no plans to take any action as yet and were awaiting further regulations before deciding.

    ‘Average monthly revenue per store shows no change compared with 2016, at around $27,000,’ the note said. ‘While the ratio of mods and starter kits have increased, the e-liquid share of revenue has decreased, which reflects the increasing price pressure on e-liquids and the growing popularity of larger bottle sizes.

    ‘Also, the number of stores that offer in-house e-liquid has increased from last year. For those that offer both in-house and third-party brands, in-house e-liquids on average account for more than half of their e-liquid revenue.’

  • Farmers seek protection

    Farmers seek protection

    The Indonesian Tobacco Farmers Association (APTI) has urged the government to control leaf-tobacco imports so as to protect local farmers, according to a story in The Jakarta Post.

    During a meeting between APTI members from nine provinces and President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo yesterday, the farmer representatives called on the president to allow cigarette companies to import tobacco only if they had absorbed the tobacco produced by local farmers.

    “If a company buys a small amount of local tobacco, it has to get only a small import quota,” APTI chairman Agus Parmuji said after the meeting. “If a company buys a large amount of local tobacco, the government can give a larger quota. But it should be no more than 20 percent of its total consumption.”

    According to APTI data, leaf imports stood at about 28,000 tons in 2003, but they rose to 90,000 tons in 2010 and to 150,000 tons in 2012, which was about 72.5 percent of local consumption.

    The increase in imported tobacco had resulted in a lower absorption of local tobacco and a decline in prices, Agus said.

    Local tobacco production had reached 247,000 tons annually with prices varying from Rp45,000 (US$3.31) per kg to Rp350,000 per kg, depending on the quality.

    Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman said that he would discuss the matter with the Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita.

    “Actually, we talked to cigarette companies last month and they agreed to buy local tobacco at [a] good … price,” he said.

  • Call for smoke-free homes

    Call for smoke-free homes

    In the UAE, 8.5 percent of those 12 to 14 years of age are smokers, according to a story in The National citing UAE University figures.

    The story did not say how smokers were defined.

    A study by the university that was presented at the International Society of Addiction Medicine conference in Abu Dhabi on Friday, was said to have shown that children in the UAE were ‘inhaling their first hit of tobacco aged nine or younger’.

    This had prompted calls for households to become smoke-free, though it wasn’t clear from the story who was making these calls.

    “We should focus on tobacco use at a young age,” said Dr. Syed Shah, an associate professor at the university’s Institute of Public Health. “Otherwise it will be too late.”

    His study looked at 1,186 Arab pupils between the ages of 12 and 18, of which 51.4 percent were Emirati. More than a fifth of boys smoked shisha and 21.9 percent smoked cigarettes.

    Meanwhile, a study of female students at Zayed University by the university found similar results in respect of underage smoking. In the anonymous survey, a ‘significant number’ of the 552 respondents were said to have tried their first cigarette or shisha at age nine or younger.

    “There is a high prevalence now for shisha smoking and I think the most alarming aspect of this is the early onset,” said Dr. Heba Barazi, an assistant professor at Zayed University’s College of Natural and Health Sciences.

    This early onset was consistent with the findings of a World Health Organization survey that was done between 13 and 15 years ago, she said. In other words, little had changed. “In ten years they knew this and nothing has been done about that,” she added.

  • Leaf price up – and down

    Leaf price up – and down

    The grower price for leaf tobacco produced during Japan’s 2018 harvest has been set at an average of ¥1,887.14 per kg for all leaf types, an increase of 0.51 percent on the previous year’s price of ¥1,877.57 per kg.

    The 2017 price was the same as that for 2016-season tobacco, but the 2016-season price was down by 2.2 percent on that of the 2015 season, ¥1,920.1 per kg, which was up 0.71 percent on that of the 2014 season, ¥1,906.47 per kg. The 2014 season price was the same as that of 2013 but up by 0.84 percent on that of 2012.

    Japan Tobacco Inc. said yesterday that the Leaf Tobacco Deliberative Council (LTDC), chaired by Yoshio Kobayashi, had released its annual determinations for the domestic leaf tobacco cultivation area and grower prices for 2018, in response to a proposal submitted by JT earlier in the day.

    ‘The Council was in general agreement with JT’s proposal, and determined that in 2018, the domestic tobacco cultivation area will be set at 7,436 ha, a decrease of 4.7 percent compared to the contracted area of the previous year.’

    The council went along too with JT’s price recommendation.

    The LTDC is described as a council that confers on important matters concerning the cultivation and purchase of domestically-grown leaf tobacco in response to inquiries by JT representatives. It comprises no more than 11 members who are appointed by JT with the approval of the Minister of Finance, from among representatives of domestic leaf tobacco growers and academics.